Foreign Film

Columbian filmmakers Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent) directed essentially the Columbian Godfather with their new film Birds of Passage, last year’s Oscar submission for the country. It all starts with a dowry and the drive of… Continue Reading →

I haven’t been on the edge of my seat in a movie since Avengers: Infinity War, but Gaspar Noe’s Climax had dance scenes so intricate, premonitory, and complex that I was leaning closer for the thrill and the detail. Sit… Continue Reading →

The German nominee from this year’s Oscars Never Look Away delivers a look into the life of artist Kurt Barnert and his life haunted by a childhood raised in the shadow of the Nazi uprising. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The… Continue Reading →

Lebanon’s Capernaum (Arabic for “Chaos”) from the daring Nadine Labaki is a bold critique of adolescent autonomy featuring enough sorrow and thoughtfulness to both make you depressed but be glad for the experience. Thanks to a “qualifying run,” this final… Continue Reading →

Oy Oy Oy, Cold War is a gorgeous declaration of love, impulsive and imperfect. Pawel Pawlikowski helms one of the year’s great films with Poland’s foreign language submission, a follow-up to his Oscar-winner Ida. Impeccable black-and-white cinematography and filled with… Continue Reading →

It’s rare I actually catch all foreign language Oscar nominees for a given year. I just finished 2014 two weeks back, but somehow I caught 4 out of 5 of 2017’s nominees in theaters with On Body and Soul being… Continue Reading →

November (2018) Part Monty Python, part Lars von Trier, Estonian Oscar submission November is a movie that will just make you say, “What?” Based on Andrus Kivirähk’s novel Rehepapp ehk November (Old Barny aka November), this story follows a 19th… Continue Reading →

Tangerines (2014) Before Sean Baker’s Tangerine became one of my new Christmas classics, an Estonian film became the first foreign language nominee in the country’s history with the Chechen war-looming drama Tangerines. In Zaza Urushadze’s story of conflicting cultures–Estonians, Georgians… Continue Reading →

Nobody Knows (2004) If The Florida Project didn’t bum you out quite enough, Hirokazu Koreeda’s Nobody Knows might do the trick. After Akira (Yûya Yagira) and his mother Keiko (an actress named You) greet the landlord’s at their new complex.… Continue Reading →